Van Orden House

135 Reade Street | Tribeca | built 1920

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1839

    July 6

    A 104-year-old Revolutionary War widow from 135 Reade Street calls on President Van Buren

    Hannah Gouge, mother of Mrs. Van Orden, lived here when the government turned down her pension petition for her husband's militia service. On July 6, 1839, she went to President Martin Van Buren's hotel and asked to see him. The Morning Herald reported that he took her into his parlor and asked after her health. She still did not win the pension.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1845

    October 19

    Hannah Gouge, who once called on a president, dies at 135 Reade Street at about 110

    After her meeting with Van Buren, Hannah Gouge stayed with the Van Orden family at the Reade Street house for five more years. She died there on the evening of October 19, 1845, at about 110 years old, and the funeral took place in the house two days afterward. The New York Herald gave old age as the cause of death.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1918

    March 9

    A Reade Street cafe owner is shut down for serving meat on a meatless Tuesday

    During World War I the government asked restaurants to observe meatless days. Rudolph Otte, who ran the cafe at 135 Reade Street with his father, listed pork chops, steak and roast beef on his Tuesday menu. Called before Food Administrator Williams on March 9, 1918, he said he read the German Herold and had never heard of the rule. The cafe was ordered closed the next Tuesday.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1921

    April 14

    A plainclothes policeman fakes illness to catch a porter selling whiskey at the former saloon

    Officer Carl Zipf leaned on the wall outside 135 Reade Street, a building that had formerly housed a licensed saloon, on April 14, 1921, clutched his chest and moaned. Porter Leo Busch came out, heard a plea for a drink, and fetched whiskey, whereupon Zipf arrested him. Busch was held in the Tombs and the whiskey went in a labeled vial to Prohibition chemists on Worth Street. The Tribune sneered at the officer's methods.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1986

    McGovern's Tavern is a Tribeca hangout where truckers drink beside newcomers

    A tavern has occupied the ground floor of 135 Reade Street since a restaurant opened there in 1878, apart from the Prohibition years. By the 1970s it was Morgan's Grill, and by 1986 it was McGovern's Tavern. The New York Times that year described it as a longtime Tribeca hangout that predated the arty crowd, where truckers stood at the bar beside young urban pioneers. It became the Reade Street Pub in 2003.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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